Method of producing gas.



PATENTED APR; 28, 1908. E. H. AMBT. METHOD OF raonucme GAS.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 21, 1907.

. IZUCfLiQI" Jfme Phoenix, in the county of Maricopa and 'I er-.

EDWARD HQAME'IJOF PHLENIX, ARIZONA TERRITORY, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL AMEI COMPANY, OF PHG$NIX, ARIZONA TERRITORY, A CORPORATION OF. ARIZONA TERRITORY.

' METHOD OF PRODUCING GAS.

Specification of Letters Patent. application flied January 21, 1907. Serial No. 353,385.

Patented April 28, woe.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD I-I. AMn'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at ritory of Arizona, have invented and discovered a new and useful Method of Producing Gas, of which the following is a specification.- This discovery and inventionrelates to the production of a gas so erior forower and eating purposes, whic is made rom. crude petroleum or other hydrocarbons or gas-producing fuel, and which closely resembles natural gas in the character of its flame and is high'in English thermal units in proportion to the heat units in the oil orother fuel'consumed.

' It is one of the objects of this invention to produce gas by a direct and simple continuous process, and to avoid the necessity of large or' expensive apparatus heretofore deemed-necessary forthe rapid production of large quantities of gas for power, light and fue f I have discovered that it is possible toproduce from hydrocarbons large quantities of fixed combustiblegasiwithout the use of bafile walls, checker-work, spraysnozzles, or other araphernalia heretofore deemed neces sary or the breaking up of hydrocarbons in such production of gas, and that instead of spreading out oil or its vapors over large heating surfaces as heretofore for fixing the gas, superior results with increased economy of cost of apparatus, spaceoccu )icd, cost of operation and fuelconsumed, will be secured by first dissociating the combustible elements in the presence of flame, and then immediately conducting said elements while in sus pension and inflame form, through a re- 40 stricted outlet which cxtinguishes the flame,

and thence through a restricted passage wherein the elements may combine under the residual or continuei'l contained heat thereof, to produce the gas. i

The principle of this invention and discovery, so far as I have yet been able to determine the same, is that if carbonaceous substances such as crude petroleum, kerosene or other comlnistible gas-producing substance be subjected in a confined space to the action of heat at and above the ignition point, in the presence of comparatively large volumes of oxygen or of atmospheric air, such volumes being constantly supplied under a moderate ressure, dissociation of the elements of the substances'within the confined space takes place, and after that a new union or combination can be effected by extinguishing the flame of the dissociated elements be fore complete c'ombustionhas taken place, then transferring the highly heated dissociated elements from said space through a restricted passa e of suflicient length toal I low the residue heat to be utilized in the formation of a new gas, whereby the temperature of said elements and gas becomes reduced below the ignition point, the elements 'being constantly moved on and-out toward final discharge; the new union and atomic arrangement resulting in a fixed gas with a loss of only a-comparatively small percentage of the heat units in the original fuel.

This process isdistinguished from all known the hyr rocarbon or other gas-making ma- .terial employed is caused by impinging elements for the formation of a new COIlIblIlSr.

tion of said elements.

Among the advantages arisiri from this novel method, in addition to those above suggested, is that the usual purifiers are not required even where sulfurous substances are contained in the gas-making materials; and owing to the high efficiency of the method, a smaller proportion of free carbon in the form of lamp-black as aby-product is produced, and there is an apparent superior ofliciency of the gas when used in a gas en. glue, and which is not yet accounted for by any of the analyses I have been able to obtain, although I conjecture that the apparent gain is owing to elements of high thermal ef iciency contained in the gas.

This method mayjbe carried out by various appliances. I will now describe the pro duction of gas by my newly discovered recesses in which the dissociation of luu method, reference being bad to the I I accor'n panying drawings in which V Figure Us a broken elevation ofapparatu 'adapte d for' producing gas by this method. lJigQ'Z isa broken longitudinal mid-section of, the portion of said apparatus in which the dissociation and new union of elements take 1 lace. Fig. 3 is a broken plan section on 1, into a confined space or chamber 2 constituting the dissociating chamber, and distributed at one end thereof by means of a distributer 3 which may be the inclined surface s a plate or trough over which the oil may s read from the pipe 1. ,The end of the c amber at which the oil is thus spreadunay be of greaterfcrosssectional area than the other end 4 of the chamber, which chamber tapers from the induction'end 5 to the cduction" opening or outlet Gfwhere a long associating) flue or gas uniting, combining o i' fiX- ing tu e 7 is provided through which the gas is to pass, an in which the new combination of atoms isto occur.

' Atmos heric air ap lied under a moderate pressure om a suite is source, as blower 8, will be introduced into the chamber at its large induction end 5 underneath the film of oil flowing. from the lower edge of the inclined s reader 3. When the air and oil are thus a mitted to the chamber, ignition is caused by any common means as a torch,

.not shown,which may be applied directly at the lower end of the spreader, by unscrewing the plug 9, and thereupon the resulting blaze wlll cause an upward expansion of vapors, atmospheric air ,and products of combustion which will fill the enlarged end of the chamber, and a vent being afforded from the fixing tube 7, the contents of the chamber will rush to find egress therefrom the lug being replaced.

T e outlet from the dissociating chamber is of less cross-sectional area than said chamher, and the acceleration of the elements consequent upon the reduced passage through which the elements pass, prevents further combustion without reducing the tempera ture to a degree below that at which ignition.

would otherwise take place. --In fact, tests ating chamber twenty-six inches long, four and, one-half inches wide and twenty-one inches deep at the inlet-end and four inches deep at the outlet end, that byconstructing senses such apparatus with a fixing and combining tube 0 approximately twelve feet in length and four inches indiameter, a soot will. at first form in said tube, and that as the operation proceeds the soot in that portion of the tube nearest the outlet from the dissociating chamber 2 will become transformed lulu a coke coating inside of the tube, while the coating at the extreme end will be in the form of a soft lamp black, and the intermediate coating will merge from coke into lamp black as the outlet end of the tube is-upproached. i

The tube may open directly into the air, or

it may be connected with a scrubber and washer, not shomi, or the gas may be used immediately as it issues from the lube, or the tube may be shorter or longer or of greater or less diameter than that shown, without dcparture iron 'the broad principle of this in 'vention.

from the front by the ingress of air under the spreader, and by the expansion of the carbonaceous material fed thereto; and. as the elements approach the associating or con bining tube 7 they are gradually condensed and brought into more intimate relation under increasing temperature, and in connection with'iiame until the elements enter the tube where the flame becomes extinguished at the point of highest temperature, and

from that Cpoint the temperature oi the elomerits gra lally diminis res possibly in part owing to the abso rption of heat by the iormw tion and expansion of the new gas, and the elements possibly take on the spiral. motion usually generated in bodies of s moving through tubes, and the elements are brought into intimate relation for a considerable time without any destructive brcalzinguip action, thereby leaving the atoms free to combine to an extent not possible where the course oi the elements is broken by forcible contact with abutting surfaces.

In actual ractice tlic operation throughout is carried on mildly without explosive or other sudden disruptive action.

I have demonstrated that the incumlbs cence of heated surfaces in the apparatus is not necessary to produce the fiXQO combustible gas as I have produced such gas and taken the same from the cold apparatus in forty-five seconds after the oil had been lirst scrubbing processes so that there is ignited in the dissociating chamber, starting with the chamber cold.

The character of the gas produced by any given apparatus will depend upon the relative. proportions of air' and carbonaceous material admitted to thedissociating chamber. The operator can determine the proportions necessary by noting the by-prodnets. in case too much oil is admitted, free oil will be discharged from the overflow of the scrubbing a )paratus not shown. From this point the oiimay be cut down gradually, the operator noting the escape of lamp-black from the scrubber and washer, and also noting conditions of flame in test-burner, until the quality of the gas is maximum and the escape of by-products minimum.

-ihe process thus described of producing fixed gas maybe regarded as including a process analogous .to tempering the mass of roducts issuing from the dissociating chamer, giving the atoms and molecules suflicient time to. arrange themselves in a stable form from which they will not break up under the subsequent cool ng, washing and practically no es from sudden chilling. A

In the apparatus 1 have used the walls of the dissociating chamber are refractory and adapted to retain heat, and the fine is an iron ipe, which as the process proceeds, becomes lieated, sufiiciently to charpaper held in contact therewith for ten or fifteen minutes more shown) along the top of the pipe 7, thus giv ing access to the interior of the flue. As the operation with the apparatus proceeds, the holes will rapidly clog with solid carbon, which at the end near the dissociating chamber 1 is in the form of coke, such form changing gradually at the successive holes from the coke form to the form of soft lamp black, which willbe deposited along the pipe at the outlet'cnd thereof. While the holes are open, jotsof gas will issue therefrom and the gas of the jets nearest the dissociatingchamber is in an incandescent condition and said incandescence gradually decrez'iscs as the distance from the chamber increases. Said. jet may be'iguitcd by application of flame. outside the tube,. but otherwise will [low off without ignition. Gas from the jets nearest the dissociating chamber may be partially condensed and will yield a small rplautity of free a portion of the gas only being in a fixed rilifplition; but as the. distance from the dis- HUMflt-lllg chamber increases the amount of oil which may thus be obtained from. the issuing gas becomes less and less and the prowith a flame when ignited.

liquid bv-prmlucts are obtained from the gas.

When the holes above mentioned are left without external interference, they soon become clogged; those nearest the dissociating chamber filling up with hard coke. and thehardness of the deposit diminishing as the distance from said chamber increases, the

holes farthest away from said chamber filling with lamp black. At night when the holes before mentirmed are kept open the issuing jets take on an. appearance of incandescence gradually diminishing in luminosity as the distance from the chamber increases. The heat of such jets nearest the chain her is such that a sheet of paper rapid-1y passed thereover will .be burned in two almost instan tancously and the rapidity with which the burning takes placeat successive holes, receding from thechamber grows less and less I until the tei'nperature of the issuing becomes too low to burn a hole through the paper. I have found that by removing the tube 7 that the m the chamber comprises fixed combustible gas, unburned vapors, and soot and will burn such product in the tube and moving the same therealong, the residual heat thereof transforms the vapor into fixed gas.

By confining By means of the elongated contracted tube I or line through which the products of the dissociating chamber are compelled to pass,

such products arclicld against lateral expansion, the only expansion that can occur bc ing cndwisc along the tube toward the outlet.

in ordinary practice the ultimate outlet for thcffixcd gas is beyond a water seal 10 from whence the fixed gas passes through an out let 1] to the washers and scrubbers, not

shown. The pressure within the fixing tube or fine 7 may be a few ounces more or less depending on the differential existing between the initial pressure of the. air supply, the frictional resistance of the walls of the tube,. the

depth of the water seal 10, and the pressure required to raise the gas holder, not shown; the aim being to overcome said resistance and all'ord' the requisite pressure for combustion in the burners, not shown. It will be umleistood that under the usual law the higher the pressurein the apparatus the better will be the quality of the final gas- Such pressure is determined by the 'depth of the water seal.

The oil-distributer or spreader preferably extends entirely across the dissociating chamber 22, leaving an air chamber I2and an from elow While the oil is gently upborne,

' and comhustiontskes place without exploneuronal terunmghng said elements, and combining sions orsudden disruptive action, and an even I ningling ofeir with the carbonaceous substances is accomplished..-

Whet I claim is I 1. The method of producing gas set forth, which consists in dissociating gas-producing material by the direct heat of the flame of its own' combustion ,While in motionv end in flame form without breaking up 13y impingen1ent,- then extinguishing the ame, and then associating and combining said ele merits in theform of si'iixed combustible gas, said operation being continuous and without rerying the-supply of the gasmskirtg fnate rial or interrupting the mitie'i fiance-and flow aseous substances. i

2. e methed of producing gas which consists in continuously dissociating the ele' ments of a hydrocarbon in the presence of a err, extinguishing the flame, in-

the same, gradually decreasing the tempera .M I eeaeos ,ture end producing a fixed gas suhstmitially as set forth. I

3. The method of producing gas which consists in continuously supplying to a chamber a sheet or infiowing air and con tinuo'usiy supplying cerlmnaccous material to the top of such sheet and igniting the saincfthcrehy suspending said material and products thereof in the chamber in a state ofcombustion; withdrawing the resultant products from the (diamber Without interrupting such suspension end then arresting the combustion.

4'. The method of producing girs which consists in continuously supplying to a. chamber a sheet of infiowing air, and continuously supplying cerhoneccous material to the top, 01"" such sheet end ignitinn" the same, thereby suspending said materiel and products thereof in the chamber in a state of combustion; Withdraavingthe resultant products from the chc-mherwithout inter rupting such suspension then arresting the combustion, and then holdii the )roducts in combination until the residual hcet has efiectcd the fixing of the gas. In testimony whereof, I have hcreui'ito (set my hand at Los Angeles", California this 3rd day of January 1907.

EDWAR D H. AMETQ In presence oi JAMES R. TOWNSEND,

JULIA TOWNSEND. 

